Silver lining

While I don't mind getting my comics by mail, I don't think it's the ideal way to get them. You pretty much have to make all your comic-buying decisions sight unseen based solely on the solicitations. You can't browse, can't see something interesting on the shelves and pick it up.

But there's one good thing about it, and I was reminded of that today when I looked out the window and saw the snow on the ground: even if there's a blizzard that I wouldn't want to drive in, I still get my comics.

A realization

You know, I pretty much ignore anything I see online about Marvel's Ultimate line of comics. I did read Ultimates and, I think, Ultimates 2. They were all right, they were entertaining in a "What If?" sort of way, but I never got particularly attached to them.

And that's because, apparently, I am one of "those" comic fans. The annoying ones.

One of the things that makes comics so dear to me, one of the things that keeps me coming back for more, is the convoluted continuity. The complicated and sometimes conflicting backstory, the steady parade of villains and lovers, the costume changes, the partnerships, the team-ups. Without those ties, without that intricate web of connections, that sense of history, the way that Spider-Man manages to have forty years worth of adventures in a quarter of that time? I may read it if it's around, but I won't usually seek it out, and I'll lose interest pretty easily if the books lose quality.

Ah, but the comics that are firmly bound to their universe's continuity? Those, I'm so much more forgiving of. Because I've got so much more invested in them, personally.

I'm not saying I want to change. I'm just saying that I am a fangirl, and I suppose I ought to embrace it.

Never say never

I've never been particularly intrigued by the idea of getting my comics digitally because I like paper. I like to hold the comics in my hands and turn the pages. I like getting a nice box of comics once a month, sorting out the kids' books and handing them over, and taking out the two or three titles I most want to read and putting them at the top of the stack. I like all those physical aspects of comic reading.

So, although I've seen some good cost-based and storage-based arguments in favor of digital comics, I've never seriously considered the possibility, much less wished I could get them like that. I haven't seen anything presented as a potential of digital comics that got me excited.

But there is something that could.

I'm middle-aged, and I've got poor eyesight. It isn't getting any better. It can't be corrected much more than it is right now. I can read my comics all right (with the occasional exception of some particularly small-fonted captioning), but I am concerned that, someday, that may not be the case.

And that's where, possibly, digital comics might come in. If it ever comes to a point where it's hard to read my on-paper comics, it might be that I can continue my hobby by changing over to digital--because, presumably, with digital you can zoom images.

That would be a selling point for me, certainly, but considering the aging of comic fandom I'm guessing I wouldn't be the only one.

Lost opportunities

So I'm perusing Comic Book Resources today, looking at the latest comic convention coverage, and I come across this Bendis quote from the Marvel panel:

A fan called for the return of footnotes in comics, giving an example of a recent event in “New Avengers” that confused him and made him wish for some exposition. Bendis pointed out that the footnotes have been replaced by Wikipedia.

That's a joke, right?

Because I've got to say that Marvel's footnotes used to be a real selling tool. I can't count the number of times, as a kid, I'd see something like "To find out why Iron Man isn't wearing any pants, pick up the latest issue of Marvel Team-Up!" and run right out to search for the footnoted title. Seriously, I did that a lot. (Easily swayed, that was me as a kid. :)) Probably still would...if there were such footnotes to send me out looking!

Cool!

Wow, comics are shipping already? These short months always take me by surprise.

Where I go on the internet to get my comic fix.

As a comic fan (though, hopefully, not a fanatic), I do make use of the internet in pursuing my hobby. Today I'm talking a bit about how I do that.

I check the various comic blogs by way of Bloglines. I'm rather behind at the moment, but I guess that's the beauty of using a feed collector, that you can read when you've got the time. I usually intend to read a few every day, but in practice I always seem to end up spending a few hours catching up every few weeks.

Most days, I usually glance at the headlines on Comic Book Resources and the comic section at Newsarama, scrolling down at the former to see if there are any interesting previews up (usually there aren't). Often that's the extent of my everyday comic news reading. Since I'm basically a "Big 2" reader, I find that I learn most of what I'd want to know this way.

If I have a little more time, I check Comic Boards, specifically the boards for Captain America and Green Lantern.

Every so often I look for new wallpaper at Marvel. DC is nice, they put their new designs up every Wednesday. Usually there's nothing I'm interested in, but occasionally I get something new and pretty for my computer screen.

These days I check Twitter whenever I happen to be online, but then Twitter is still all shiny and new to me right now.

I used to check my stats online every week or so, but haven't done so in quite some time. Still, it's interesting info to have.

I also spend a fair amount of non-specific comic-researching time at Wikipedia, looking up various characters and titles that I've seen mentioned elsewhere.

And, generally speaking, that's about it. There are other sites I go to on occasion, but as far as my usual route goes, that's it.

That's what it looks like, anyway.

So the theme for both Marvel and DC next year is oppression?

Thinking about buying comics

Interesting article here about why modern comic shops no longer tend to keep tables upon tables of back issue boxes.

It's saddening, in a way, because I have fond memories of the back issue days--the sense of weird accomplishment when you at last get to read that one issue you've been missing from a favorite storyline, the fun of bringing home a new stack of comics to file with your existing collection, the excitement when you finally find that specific issue you've been looking for for a few years. (Lacking a local comic shop, I actually did most of my comic collecting by mail, but I did get to a "real" store whenever we traveled.)

But that's pure nostalgia, and it isn't really something I miss all that much. For one thing, I'm older now and I have less spare time to spend hunting down that elusive issue of Avengers. Or, for that matter, to spend organizing my comics neatly into their boxes as new books come in. It was just a different time, a different way to feed the habit, and arguably no better or worse than what the market will be like once people figure it out this time.

What I'm thinking, as a consumer, is that it would be virtually impossible for a local comic store (if we had one, something that seems less and less likely all the time) to do more than simply supply me with the brand-new monthly comics I read. I can't really expect to walk into any store and find anything I'm looking for specifically, because there's too much material available. Someone who's going in to browse, who just wants something that looks interesting to read, they're probably going to find something.

I don't know that that's a lot of the comic market, though. I know that I generally have a pretty good idea of what particular thing I want--and that trip to Denver earlier this year, where I came home with a suitcase full of toys instead of books because even a big store didn't have the books I was looking for, just confirmed that for the most part a trip to a comic store is fun, and I might pick up something that looks neat, but it's not a replacement for ordering online what I really want.

See, I prefer to buy trades of back issues when I can get them.

But it's obvious that it was a lot easier, really, when actual floppy back issues were the order of the day, to be confident of being able to find something you wanted when you went to a comic shop. (For those of you who weren't around back then, this meant keeping a little notebook in your purse with a list of all the comic issues you were looking for, which you'd check off as you found them.) You probably wouldn't find everything on your list but you'd find some of it.

All I know is that I wouldn't want to be running a comic shop these days. I'm just not that smart.

Catching up on my internet reading

I was reading this article at Newsarama--an interview with Grant Morrison about Final Crisis, including some discussion of how it ties in with events in Countdown. Now, I liked Countdown a lot, but it's true that some of what's in it doesn't seem to fully make sense. One thing he said jumped out at me,

although I’ve tried to avoid contradicting much of the twists and turns of that book as I can with the current Final Crisis scripts, the truth is, we were too far down the road of our own book to reflect everything that went on in Countdown, hence the disconnects that online commentators, sadly, seem to find more fascinating than the stories themselves

which seems to indicate that most of the problems I've seen mentioned were due to people just not knowing what was being touched on elsewhere. That's got to be a consistent problem with these big events, keeping everyone informed.

the best I can do is suggest that the somewhat contradictory depictions of Orion and Darkseid’s last-last-last battle that we witnessed in Countdown and DOTNG recently were apocryphal attempts to describe an indescribable cosmic event.

To reiterate, hopefully for the last time, when we started work on Final Crisis, J.G. and I had no idea what was going to happen in Countdown or Death Of The New Gods because neither of those books existed at that point. The Countdown writers were later asked to ‘seed’ material from Final Crisis and in some cases, probably due to the pressure of filling the pages of a weekly book, that seeding amounted to entire plotlines veering off in directions I had never envisaged, anticipated or planned for in Final Crisis.

The way I see it readers can choose to spend the rest of the year fixating on the plot quirks of a series which has ended, or they can breathe a sigh of relief, settle back and enjoy the shiny new DC universe status quo we’re setting up in the pages of Final Crisis and its satellite books. I’m sure both of these paths to enlightenment will find adherents of different temperaments.

Okay, that was a long quote :), but it did make me think of a few things. One is that I'm perfectly ready to enjoy Final Crisis, even without the sigh. Assuming it's enjoyable and I see no reason it wouldn't be.

Another is that it's amazing to me that they're even able to do these events at all. It's hard to imagine the organization that has to be involved, and I suppose it's not surprising if, every so often, the railroad tracks don't quite match up when they finally meet.

Yet other is that just because people like to talk about these sorts of inconsistencies doesn't mean that they don't enjoy the books as well. There's a long history of fans noticing when things in a comic just aren't quite right, dating back at least to the Silver Age when Marvel used to give out actual No-Prizes to fans who noticed and explained them. (I used to love it, as a kid, when someone would get a No-Prize in a letter column. It was clear to me even then that the comic creators sort of figured that the errors were inevitable and took the most reader-friendly approach they could think of to deal with them.) For a lot of folks, trying to make the pieces fit is part of the fun of comics.

And the last is that I'm not quite sure I'm smart enough to read comics by Grant Morrison. (Goes to Wikipedia to read about superstring theory...)

Is there no end to it? (More comic budget issues.)

(Blame Newsarama for making me think about it. Every time I think I'm done, they post a new article and I think "Oh, yeah, there's that, isn't there?")

Some of the people we surveyed said they don't believe the comic book retail market will be hit as hard as some other industries, because fans enjoy it too much as an escape.

This is a theme throughout all of the articles, and while it seems likely that people do tend to go for the cheap entertainment during hard times, one issue is whether comics really are cheap entertainment. Hardcore fans are going to keep buying for as long as they can manage it. And I suppose it's arguable that a fairly large percentage of comic fans are hardcore fans, simply because the way things are these days (long story arcs, multiple tie-ins, special events, decades-long continuity issues), it's hard for someone to enjoy comics as a casual reader.

Which means that even if non-fans were inclined to look toward comics as a cheaper entertainment option, it's still an awful lot of work to get up to speed, and I don't see a lot of people who just want a bit of light reading once in a while being willing to put forth that sort of effort.

And a lot of current fans are economizing--cutting back on purchases, being more selective in what they buy, switching to trade format, switching to mail-order comic stores that offer significant discounts. And once a book is off the pull list, are we likely to put it back? (Barring cases where a book was dropped for specific reasons that are later addressed--by a new creative team, for example.) On the whole, people don't seem to be dropping comics altogether (and if they have, they often consider it a temporary measure), but they're trying to spend less on what they get, and that has to have some impact.

And as for adding, well, personally if isn't a sure thing (Deadpool!!! :)) I think hard before adding something new, particularly a new ongoing. I'm more likely to add a mini, something where the extra expense will take place over a limited time. In theory, by the time that mini is over there'll be another mini starting, but there's no guarantee that I'll want anything to replace it.

Also, something I haven't seen addressed often is that people may be sharing their books more these days. (Maybe they're not and that's why I haven't seen it?) I do know that if I'm thinking of trying something new, I'll often ask my brother whether he's seen it, or gets it, and if he does I'll probably just read what he's got on hand. He also reads some of my books. I realize of course that not everyone is fortunate enough to have a comic-friendly sibling or friend.

(Of course there are a couple of different economics-related issues. The first one is simple and direct--do you have enough money to buy comics, and if so, how many? The second one is more relative--do you think that, regardless of whether you can afford them, comics have become too expensive. You can have plenty of money and still decide that if comics go to $3.99, you're done buying them--not because you can't afford it but because you just think that's too damn much for a comic book. )

Comic budget issues (yeah, again)

Last time I got on this subject I was talking about how I buy my comics right now, and how I think the cost relates to my buying habits. (Please note the "I think" that's in there, because I recognize that what I think happens isn't necessarily what does happen. Money is one of those aspects of life that lends itself too readily to self-delusion.)

So, at this point gas prices are up and other prices seem likely to follow. I always feel a little guilty complaining about gas prices, because I know that we in the US have enjoyed damn low relative-to-the-rest-of-the-world gas prices for quite some time. Knowing that doesn't help much when your budget has to take in the fact that this item now costs at least a third again as much as it used to, but I do kind of feel like a little rich girl whining about having to buy sevruga instead of beluga. In any case, certainly the increase in gas prices will affect our budget--the husband drives to work every day. We live in a rural area where public transportation is nonexistent, so this really isn't a matter of choice.

Traditionally people turn to cheaper forms of entertainment during a downturn in the economy, whether it's renting a movie instead of going out to see one or picking up comic books, which are still a relatively cheap form of entertainment.

Well, as I've seen others mention elsewhere, chances are that a movie that entertains you for a couple of hours is going to have more basic entertainment value than a comic that keeps you occupied for five or ten minutes. Heck, in that sense a paperback novel is a bargain at twice (or thrice) the cost of a comic book.

I'm also not really sure what these expensive entertainments are that people are supposed to be giving up in favor of comics. A night of drinking at their local waterhole? Fine dining? Caribbean cruises? It just gives me an amusing mental picture of the fellow who sells his sailboat and starts collecting Batman instead. :)

The thing I try to think of, when I'm making a spending decision, is whether the more expensive option is that much better than the less pricey choice. Say that I'm going to pick up some take-out something-or-other on my way home. Do I get burgers or do I get Chinese food? I'd prefer the Chinese food but the burgers are cheaper. Say that the Chinese food costs three times what the burgers would be--is it three times as good? Do I want it three times as much?

So, say that I'm thinking of getting a new video game, at thirteen times the cost of a comic. Well, I might get thirteen times the fun out of it. I probably did get thirteen times the fun out of Marvel Ultimate Alliance than I did out of the average single comic, partly because I spent a lot more time playing it than I did reading any single book, but mainly because it's a group activity.

Now, I love comics and I get a lot of pleasure from them--I'm a comic fan. (I'm not, particularly, a video game fan; I play when we've got a specific game I'm interested in and not otherwise.) So, for me, all isn't equal when I'm comparing comics to other entertainment choices--I'm going to go for the comics, just about every time. But for a lot of folks who don't have that connection, comics really haven't got a chance when compared against other activities.

Another thought when it comes to money and where people spend it is that the comic reader is older today than they used to be, which means that more of their income is going to be tied up in non-optional purchases. A kid comic fan (remember back when comic fans were kids?) isn't going to have to make the same decisions about spending money as an adult is. For the most part, most kids' income is disposable income---they typically don't have to pay for their own clothing, food, housing or transportation. That's often true of teen readers as well. Because of this, comic books are competing with, basically, other luxury items for their money. For an adult, on the other hand, comics may be competing with necessities, and if that's the case, clearly the cash is going to go toward the food and gas.

Finally, when you go to a movie, generally speaking, when the movie is over the entertainment (and your expense) is over. Even if it's a sequel, a movie generally stands alone--you can enjoy it without having seen what came before. Same with video games--you don't have to have played the last game in the series to enjoy the one you've just purchased (although I assume it doesn't hurt). Comics, on the other hand, almost never stand alone. If you're not a regular comic fan and you pick up the last issue in a story arc, you're confused. If you pick up the first issue in a story arc, well, you've got to buy at least three or four more issues to get the full experience. So it isn't necessarily an issue of going to "a" movie vs. buying "a" comic book.

In the last year we have started doing a lot of work with the library systems. Most of them are picking up graphic novels.

This is quite true--the thirteen-year-old's library (it's a public library located in a school) has a number of the Ultimate X-Men trades that she's read. Of course she is already predisposed to read comics, but they're well worn so I have to assume that other people are picking them up on occasion. It's likely the only chance that a lot of kids have to read comics easily. I do know that most of her classmates are not running out to the newsstand looking for comics, but if a few are, that's something.

However, the idea that comics are ever likely to become the sort of mass entertainment that they were years ago just seems unlikely to me.

Still more comic budget issues

I was reading Comics and Economics: Talking Shop at Newsarama, an article about comic buying habits, and it interested me because, well, I've got comic buying habits.

So, a few thoughts on what they have to say.

Many retailers said they've started hearing customers talk about how they need to cut back on the comics they purchase because of economic concerns, although some said that's a worry they hear from customers all the time.

I haven't cut back on my comic purchases particularly (other than dropping books that have lost my interest--bye-bye FF and IM!--and switching to trades in some cases), but I am less likely to want to add to my get list these days. Whether that has much to do with the cost, I'm not sure--it could just as easily have to do with there not being much new that I'd want that i don't already get. If I do want to add something totally new (like Blue Beetle, which I do mean to try out at some point) I'm much more likely to just get the trades. (I may pick up the FF trade starting with the new creative team. Maybe.)

It's true that I'm still willing to buy a few more comics during an event that interests me, but when I do that, I've got it in mind that it's a temporary thing. That I can afford to add another $2.99 (or $3.99 ::rolls eyes::) for six or eight months. I don't think I would do that long-term, and it's also true that as the events keep coming, I keep buying fewer and fewer of the associated tie-ins. On the other hand, I seem to have gotten used to buying a weekly from DC. (Does anyone know if Trinity, like Countdown and 52, is self-limiting?) How did that happen?

Some retailers also pointed out that while they may only be seeing a small effect so far from the economic slowdown, there are shops closing that are unable to stay open in this environment.

I get my comics by mail anyway, due to the lack of a local comic shop (which means I can do so guilt-free :)). The nearest one is about 100 miles away. I remember a few years back, my brother would make the drive once a month or so to pick up his books--but he hasn't done that in a while, and he certainly wouldn't be doing it these days! So I wonder if the increasing gas prices may be getting some people--those whose local comic shop is a bit of a drive--to switch to mail order.

"Each month, Marvel and DC add more titles that have a $3.99 or higher cover price. They publish them as one-shots, but with so many of them coming out, it is really just an indication of what is to come."

Just recently I've found myself paying closer attention to the price of my comics when I place my order, and I really do think twice when I see a "$3.99." I think that an across-the-board dollar increase would be something that would cause me to rethink a lot of my non-core purchases. As I suggested earlier, I'll pay that much (possibly grudgingly) for special events or some minis, but if one of my ongoings went to that price, I'd be thinking hard about how much I really liked that book.

Others emphasized that even if consumers spend less on comics during the slowdown, there is still a possibility for growth because of the massive untapped audience of people who don't read comics yet.

I found that interesting because my impression has been that the mainstream comic companies aren't really all that interested in expanding their fan base, at least not if it means making significant changes to their current product--and while I personally love the current product, I do recognize that I'm a fan of long standing, and I can see where it wouldn't necessarily appeal to someone who is entirely new to the superhero genre. It's a nice thought, though.

Comic budget issues again

There's an interesting article up at Newsarama--What Cost Summer? Secret Invasion/Final Crisis Running Tallies--which is pretty interesting reading for those of us who aren't in the Bruce Wayne/Tony Stark income bracket. If you don't feel like clicking for the details, it turns out that if you buy every single book and tie-in you'll spend $316.98 for Secret Invasion and $115.14 for Final Crisis.

So I suppose that Final Crisis is the event of choice for the budget-conscious comic fan.

Now, my typical approach to events is to just buy what I usually buy, and possibly the main event series if it interests me (in this case, the actual Secret Invasion and Final Crisis titles); at this point I only buy tie-ins if they're of particular interest (generally they are not) or if they feature a favorite character or team. It usually works out that I don't spend much more than I would have spent on comics anyway. (Didn't care a bit about World War Hulk, didn't spend an extra penny on WWH books, and luckily it didn't push too far into my usual comic reading.)

That means that all I'm getting for Final Crisis is, in fact, Final Crisis.

I am, however, getting more of the Secret Invasion books, but that's mainly because I already get things like Mighty Avengers, New Avengers, Ms. Marvel and so forth. So no extra expense there. I'm also getting the main Secret Invasion title (although the fact that they're all 3.99 for no discernible reason is a little annoying--then again Final Crisis is as well). The only tie-in we're picking up (and there are a bunch of them) is the Secret Invasion: Young Avengers/Runaways mini, and that's solely because of the characters featured. That still adds a total of $68.82 to this year's comic purchases, and almost all of that is due to just the $3.99-each main titles. It's spread out over time so it's not as bad as all that in terms of monthly purchases, but still it's something to think about.

Comic budget issues

I was catching up on my blog-reading today, and came across A Few Thoughts on the Issue of Comic Books Costing Way Too Darn Much at the Comics Reporter.

Although I don't generally consider myself to have traveled quite far enough into fogey-hood to start with the price-related "in my day" stories (although I suspect that gas prices may drive us all there sooner than planned), it is true that comics were far less expensive when I was a kid. They were also, as it happens, generally less of a quality product, certainly in terms of the physical product (the paper, for example, appears to be of a more durable variety these days), and often in terms of what's on the pages as well. What I mean is that I am not pining for a return of the 35-cent comic book, so don't worry, this isn't going to be that sort of a post.

That doesn't mean that the price of comics isn't important to me.

Like most folks, we do have a limited amount of money to spend on comic books. In general, for me, it means that I spend money on comics rather than on other disposable-income leisure-time items such as DVDs. I don't eat out in fancy restaurants, don't go clubbing or out to bars (did my time there when I was in college and don't miss it a bit :)), only buy the very occasional video or computer game. So, in my world, if I wanted to buy more comics, the money would have to be shifted from somewhere else. And if comic prices were to go up, again, the money would have to be shifted from somewhere else--and chances are it would be shifted from other comics, resulting in my spending about the same amount of money but getting fewer comics.

What I do find myself doing is thinking more before I decide to buy. I order my comics online, and I find that I'm becoming more and more likely to look over the solicitations and say to myself, "Well that looks like it might be good, but I think I'll wait and see, maybe get the trade when it comes out." Granted that I'm more likely to do this with minis or books I don't have a history with, but it's happening.

And it's true that I've developed a fondness for trade paperbacks, just because the format is easier to read--and to re-read. I just have to go over to the bookshelf and get them. When I want to reread my floppies, I have to go get them out of the longbox, maybe take them out of their bags, try to keep the stack from falling over, etc.

So I suppose it would really make more sense, both financially and practically, to just buy the trades of everything.

But I won't. Because I like the episodic nature of the medium. I like getting my fix once a month. And I wouldn't like having to wait six months or more to find out what happened in my favorite titles. But that doesn't necessarily apply to every comic I read, or want to read. For example, I stopped reading Iron Man and Fantastic Four. I might decide to pick up the trades at some point, I don't know, and if that happens I'm not likely to switch back to floppies. On the other hand, right now I'm not buying those titles in any form, and not really missing them, so we'll have to see.

Anyway. According to the above-linked post,

the only comic book that was too expensive was a bad comic book

which is another way of saying that a thing is worth what you're willing to pay for it. And you don't know how much that will be until you're not.

Things I don't understand about other comic book fans

So I went online to order my July comics today.

Last month at about the same time I did the same thing (with regard to the June comics, of course), and also noticed something called "Pull List" on the menu. (It may have been there all the time, old eyes and tiny fonts don't work all that well together.) Anyway, I thought "hey, cool, I can get a head start ordering and lessen the chances of forgetting anything!"

This month, remembering that I'd set that up, I clicked on the list, looked up at the top of the screen where you get a running total for your shopping cart, and just about went into shock.

Turns out that if you use the pull list, it automatically adds every single variant cover for all the books you're ordering.

Once I'd removed the variants, the total was within the acceptable range.

All right, I know that I care less than a lot of folks about the covers on my comics. A bad cover will never stop me from buying a book I want. It just won't. I suppose that if I were buying my books in person, and there was more than one cover available for a book, and there was no price difference among them, I might prefer one cover over another. But to pay more for a comic just because of the cover? Just not happening.

More of the same

I'm debating with myself over whether I want to add a couple of titles to my get list--namely, the new Invincible Iron Man book and the new Justice League (is that what they're calling it?) book.

After all, I get both Mighty Avengers and New Avengers.

Years ago, I got both Avengers and West Coast Avengers.

Thing is, I was already getting New Avengers when Mighty Avengers came out. And obviously I was getting Avengers before WCA. What I'm saying is that I was already purchasing and enjoying a similar product when I decided to get the additional title.

But I'm not getting the current Justice League of America book or the current Iron Man: Director of SHIELD book. And not in the "well, I never happened to pick it up, maybe I'll get the trade" way, either. No, I mindfully dropped both titles because they were putting me to sleep.

The question is, where in the past I've added the new-but-similar books based on the quality and enjoyment I'd experienced with the existing book, this time I'd be adding a new-but-similar book that's similar to a book I obviously didn't care too much for.

What I'm looking at this time, of course, are not the similarities so much as the differences. For example, Iron Man. I always liked Iron Man as a character, and I think it's going to be possible (eventually) to pull him out of the abyss, but I really don't want to read more of Tony whining and angsting, however much he may be justified in doing so. I'd like to read more about Iron Man doing superhero stuff. That seems to be what the new book is going to focus on. So, I think we'll get it, at least for a while, see how it is.

As for the new Justice League book, I'm not exactly sure how it's going to be different from the other one. The word I've heard is "proactive." It wouldn't be hard to be more proactive than spending your first however-many issues looking at pictures of other heroes. I'm guessing it has to do with one team going after villains who are actually out doing something villainous at the time (attacking the acts) while the other one takes more of an unpaid-bounty-hunter approach?

And to tell you the truth, I'd probably buy two titles featuring two different Justice League teams doing essentially the same stuff (which is kind of what the Avengers/West Coast Avengers thing was--other than one team being established and the other still working out the kinks, they had about the same mission statement and the main differences had to do with character), if it was done in an interesting way. What I mean is that, unlike in Iron Man where it was primarily the concept (Iron Man in charge of SHIELD) that I grew tired of (which surprised me as I had thought it was a pretty cool idea), the concept of the Justice League is a non-problem. It's been the execution. (I'm keeping an eye open for folks saying "hey, Justice League of America is better now!" so that I'll know when to give it another try. Or to pick up the trades, at least. I'm already closer to doing it than I am with the existing Iron Man title.) So in that case, I'm actually less concerned with the particulars of how it's different than I am with whether it'll be...well, better.

Chances are, of course, that I will add them both to the list.

Spoilers!

Occasional Superheroine asks the question Do Spoilers Spoil a Comic?, as in "Is there a point to actually buying a comic once you've been spoiled?"

She makes an interesting distinction between books that are good in other ways and books that really aren't apart from providing that sort of surprise (you really only get them in order to find out what happens).

Now, I read spoilers. Books I get, books I don't get, if I think they might be interesting I will read them.

I might have a different approach if I got my comics on a weekly basis, but then again I don't stop reading spoilers when it's the last week of the month and I know my comics are on their way, so I might not.

Does it affect the amount of money the comic companies get from me? Well, no. I've already placed my order a couple of months before spoilers for those books are going to appear, so I'm getting them anyway. Would I still get them if I got them from a local shop? Again, yes, assuming that I had a pull list (obviously if I've pre-ordered something I'm going to buy it when it arrives!). The only thing spoilers might affect would be extra purchases, and that would be in a positive manner because I'd be adding, not subtracting from my total.

I've added new titles to my get list because I've seen spoilers of those titles.

I've gone out and purchased trade paperbacks because I've seen old spoilers.

I've even ordered back issues because I've seen spoilers of a particular issue.

Now, that all has to do with adding books.

As far as deciding to stop getting books I already get, that decision is always made after actually reading a book that I have in hand. (I suppose that's obvious.)

I guess the only place where spoilers would keep me from spending money would be where I had been considering adding a book to my get list, and decided against it after seeing the spoilers. But, you know, that would be if the spoilers indicated that the book kind of sucked. If the spoilers indicated that it was good, they'd more likely influence me to get it. That's not the spoiler concept at work, that's something else.

Just lazy, I guess

It's been a long weekend and I'm overloaded with chocolate, so just a few thoughts.

I do, personally, probably equate comics with superhero comics, just because that's what I read. I mean, when I say "I read comics" it does mean "I read superhero comics." I do read other things on occasion, but certainly in our house the comics are well over 90% superhero. (It's a contextual thing, of course--when I'm talking to people casually and say that I like to read books, I don't necessarily specify that I like to read (for example) old Nero Wolfe mysteries because it isn't important. If the conversation is more in-depth, I may want to be more specific.)

BTW, when I read WFA I don't read it all. I skip all of the manga links. I pick and choose which indie-related links I read. I sometimes skip links to posts on issues where I'm tired of (or was never interested in) that particular issue. My comic interests are somewhat narrow and I'm cool with that. Only so much time and money, after all. I suppose that when it comes down to it I am a fan of the genre more than of the medium. I also tend not to regularly read blogs that only talk about non-superhero comics. With a few exceptions, of course.

One nice thing about no one reading your blog is not having to worry about monitoring comments. So far no one has been mean to me, which is fortunate because I am such a sensitive soul. :) Keeping out the spam, on the other hand, is a concern. Sometimes it slips through Blogger's spam-keep-out thingie, no idea how.

I don't actually know whether everyone whose blog I read is male or female. Surprisingly often, it just doesn't come up. (It does in mine because of my kindasorta-theme of being a mom, but if you don't read the blurb you might well not know.)

I really liked this post about characterizations in Countdown. I do like Countdown but the discrepancies with the way characters have been portrayed elsewhere are rather extensive. I generally put it down to interdimensional jet lag.

Cadbury Orange Creme Eggs are pure awesomeness.

Shared art

Funnybook Babylon has a post up, An Impassioned Plea to Marvel Comics, a commentary on the news that Uncanny X-Men will soon have two artists sharing the work--Greg Land and Terry Dodson.

I don't read Uncanny X-Men. If Brubaker writing it didn't bring me to it, no possible artist could. So I'm not casting a money vote one way or another. But I'm still happy to talk about it!

I don't think I've ever read a book illustrated by Land, although I've certainly heard a lot about him on the internet, as I'm sure you all have. Therefore I've only seen occasional out-of-context scans online, and have no idea whether they are representative.

I have read Dodson's Wonder Woman and absolutely loved the art. Gorgeous. If I were inclined to pick up books based on art alone, that might do it. (I'm not, so it won't.)

I think it can work to have more than one artist on a book. It certainly did on Captain America, with Steve Epting and Mike Perkins in different issues (hell, in at least one issue they each did pages, and it worked!). And, with so many artists these days seeming to have trouble completing a monthly book (in fairness I will say that, on the whole, the art now is superior to what I saw in the comics I read as a kid, and likely takes longer to do), having more than one artist to a book could be a real plus in terms of eliminating the late book problem.

However, I also think that if you're going to do this, the artists who are sharing the work really ought to be somewhat similar in style--or at least complementary. Epting and Perkins are an excellent example--it was certainly apparent when each artist was drawing the book, but it wasn't at all distracting from the story because they both seemed to be aiming at the same target. From what I've seen, Land and Dodson have quite different artistic styles. I'm not sure it'll make for a cohesive whole, you know?

A little stability would be nice once in a while

I was looking at Newsarama today (as one does) and came across Journey Into Comics: I Have A Dream, specifically,

I have a dream that Marvel will be able to pull together all its disparate, raggedy-edged storylines into a whole, complete, satisfying finale.

Mainly, it's a hope for some eventual resolution to the various events that are currently going on in the Marvel Universe. And I've got to say, I want that too.

I remember when I was a kid. Back then, a comic event was an event. It was a rarity. It was remarkable because it stood apart from what you usually saw in the title--from the norm.

None of the current event storylines--none, really, over the last several years--have that feeling of importance about them.

And it's not just a nostalgia thing, although I know I can be as guilty as the next old fan of idealizing the comics of my youth. It's that there is no longer a norm for the events to contrast with.

I do understand that the Marvel team (presumably) is trying to create an effect of lost control, terrible things piling up one after the other, how Civil War and the whole registration thing will be put to the test by the whole War War Hulk thing, the Skrull invasion thing, etc. It's effective to a point. But eventually you have to sort of return to center and let the readers get their bearings.

It's one thing for the characters to be thinking "God, there's got to be an end to this!" It's another thing when the readers are thinking it.